Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy as always for the love and support every day.
Readers and REAL McRollers – Thank you for your amazing support!
Hope you enjoy!
End of an Era (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
As they waited for the Skype call to connect, Angie stretched her arms toward the floor, trying to lean out of Steve's lap.
"Baaah!"
"You can play again in a minute, baby girl," Catherine said, running a hand over her head as Steve gently righted her on his leg. "After we talk to Aunt Mary and Uncle Aaron and Joan, okay?"
"Ah bah!" Angie babbled, leaning again.
"Hey!" came Mary's voice as the call connected and the screen filled with their smiling faces.
"Hey yourself," Catherine returned. "How is everyone?"
"Hi, Aunt Cath!" Joan cried excitedly, waving at the screen.
Catherine gasped. "What did you say, honey?"
Mary chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Peanut, we were going to do a big reveal, remember?"
" 'A big reveal'?" Joan asked carefully, looking at her mother in confusion.
"Of how you can say Aunt Cath's name," Aaron explained with a little grin.
"Ohhh," Joan said, turning back to the screen. She continued as if imparting something new. "Aunt Cath, do you know I can say your name now?"
Catherine laughed happily. "I love it, Joan. That's wonderful. But you know what? I loved being 'Ann Caf' too. It was like your own special name for me."
"It was?"
"Yes. But I'm also so proud of you because I know you've been working with your speech therapist for a long time."
Joan nodded. "I like Ms. Lisa. She's nice."
"You still go see her at school for practice, right, pumpkin?" Aaron asked.
Joan nodded again, then asked, "What's Baby Angie doing, Uncle Steve?"
"Baby Angie is trying to get to the floor so she can get back to her new favorite pastime," Steve said as he again tried to settle Angie in his lap.
"Bah!" she protested, determinedly leaning toward the floor.
"Oh, her army crawl!" Mary exclaimed. "I love the video you sent. Or videos, I should say," she added with a teasing grin.
"It's her commando crawl," Steve corrected, "and I'm not apologizing for sending multiple videos."
"I thought it was called an army–" She stopped when Aaron elbowed her. Blinking in realization at the two Navy reservists on her screen, she quickly amended, "Commando crawl, right. Joan didn't do that particular move, but it figures Angie would, given who her parents are."
"Preparing for the Academy already," Aaron quipped.
"I want to see Baby Angie crawling!" Joan exclaimed, bouncing in place.
"You've seen the videos, too, peanut," Mary said.
"But I want to see her now!" Joan said, looking pleadingly at all the adults in turn.
Steve caved first. "And she clearly wants to show you, so I guess this Skype has turned into a show-and-tell," he said, standing with Angie and moving around the coffee table.
"Yay!" Joan cried. "I love show-and-tell! Remember when I bringed my Elsa gloves to school for show-and-tell, Mama?"
"Brought them," Mary said. "And yes, I do. All three times you brought them."
Catherine had stood as well and now turned the laptop, angling the screen so Angie was in view as Steve set her on the floor. She immediately put her arms beneath her and started to move, torso and legs still on the floor, pulling with one arm at a time toward a few of her toys left out from her earlier playtime.
"Look at her go!" Mary exclaimed, smiling broadly.
"She's crawling!" Joan said, clapping her approval. "Do you see her, Daddy?"
"I do," Aaron said. "She's even faster now than the videos from the weekend."
"She's been doing a lot of practicing," Catherine said.
"And without any cherry cordials as enticement," Mary observed with an amused grin.
"Now that she's found a way to move, she doesn't need any more enticement than that," Steve said.
Angie reached her toys and grabbed one of her smaller stacking cups, putting the rim in her mouth.
Steve gently swiveled her around so she was facing the laptop screen again. She looked momentarily surprised and then laughed happily, banging the cup on the floor.
"Ah bah baaah!" She held it out in the general direction of the screen.
"She wants to play with me!" Joan said, leaning forward until her face filled the entire screen. "When are we going to your house again, Uncle Steve?"
"I don't know, but I hope it's soon," he said, now sitting on the floor by Angie.
"Actually, we were just talking about that," Mary said, urging Joan to move back from the tablet screen. She shared a quick look with Aaron. "We thought maybe a visit in March during spring break?"
"That would be wonderful!" Catherine said, sitting on Angie's other side. "We'd love to see you, and I know Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Joseph and Grandma Ang would, too."
"Grandma Ang gave me special money for Valentine's Day!" Joan said. "And a card!"
"Oh, did you get a special $2 bill in the mail?" Catherine asked, smiling.
"You know those are lucky, right, Joanie?" Steve said.
She nodded seriously. "Grandma Ang told me. Did Baby Angie get special money, too?"
"She did," Catherine said. "We put it in a special box on her dresser with her other $2 bills from Grandma Ang."
"I have a special box, too!" Joan cried. "I'll show you!" She disappeared from view at a run.
Mary chuckled, shaking her head. "And now it's our turn for show-and-tell."
"Wouldn't be a Skype without Joan running off to get something midway through," Aaron said with a wry smile. He looked at Mary suddenly. "Where is that box? Is it still on top of her dresser?"
"No, I moved it to her bookshelf so she could reach it without trying to climb the drawers." She looked at the screen and said, "That's a pro-tip for you two. It won't be long before Miss Angie is standing and walking, and climbing won't be far behind. Either hide everything or make sure the stuff she'll want is within reach."
"Ah bah!" Angie cried, now banging both the cup and her other hand on the floor.
"That's right, big girl," Mary said, grinning. "I'm talking about you."
The sound of Joan's running feet preceded her reappearance on the screen. She held out a pink and purple wooden box.
"See my special box?"
"Ohh, that's beautiful," said Catherine. "Did you decorate it yourself?"
Joan touched one of the many craft jewels on the box, nodding. "With Daddy." She opened the box, tipping it toward the screen to show the contents and accidentally spilling everything onto the coffee table. "Oh no," she said. "My special things." She quickly decided this made it easier to show her treasures and began holding them up. "This is my special button, and this my sticker from the library, and this is my other sticker from the library, and this is my necklace." She held up a string missing half its beads and tied at one end. "It's broken but I like it. And this is my leaf." She gathered up all the $2 bills strewn about the table and held them out, beaming. "And this is all my special money from Grandma Ang!"
"That's wonderful, sweetheart," Catherine said as she lifted Angie into a sitting position.
Angie flapped her arms happily then brought the cup back to her mouth.
"Can I see Baby Angie's special box?"
"When you come to visit we'll look at it, okay?" Catherine told her.
"Okay," Joan said distractedly, now focused on putting things back in her box.
Mary ran a hand over her hair. "Peanut, it's about time to say goodnight. It'll be bedtime soon."
Joan looked up at her. "But when are we going there, Mama?"
"It sounds like we've settled on the end of March," Mary said.
"That's still a lot of sleeps away," Aaron added, knowing what Joan's next question would be.
"How many sleeps?" she asked anyway.
"About thirty or so," Mary said.
Joan's brow furrowed. "That's a lot of sleeps."
"It is, but it'll be one less after you go to bed tonight," Aaron said and kissed her head. "Say goodnight to Uncle Steve and Aunt Cath and Angie."
Joan smiled at the screen. "Night night, Uncle Steve! Night night, Aunt Cath!" Her smile grew. "Night night, Baby Angie!"
"Good night, sweetheart," Catherine said. She gently waved one of Angie's hand. "Angie says night night, too."
"Ah bah!"
Steve smiled. "Good night. We love you."
"Love you!" Joan repeated.
"Love you all," Mary said. "We'll talk more about spring break soon."
"Definitely," Catherine said. "Send us the dates."
"Okay," Aaron said, reaching for the tablet. "Good night."
"Night night!" Joan said again, leaning around Aaron's arm for one more look before the call ended.
"Ah bah yah!" Angie hit her cup against her hand and dropped it.
"Do you like talking with your cousin Joan and Aunt Mary and Uncle Aaron?" Catherine asked.
Angie leaned toward her, grabbing her leg with both arms. "Ba bah!"
Catherine lifted her into a standing position and Angie bounced in place happily.
"Your cousin is getting to be such a big girl," she continued and looked at Steve. "She's talking so much more."
"Yeah, she is. And she's got all her sounds right."
Catherine sighed with a little smile. "I am going to miss being 'Ann Caf.' "
"I know what you mean. 'Unca Teeve' always made me smile."
"End of an era." She smiled. "But that just means another one is starting."
"That's right," he said, shifting closer and taking Angie, hands under her arms to keep her upright. He leaned forward to kiss her head and said, "It's gonna be your turn soon, Angie."
"Ah bah!" she said, stomping one foot on the floor.
"Yeah, you've got that one down. How about 'Mama,' " he prompted. " 'Mama.' "
"Or 'Dada,' " Catherine added.
"Ah bah!" Angie repeated happily
Steve chuckled and kissed her head again, shifting her into his arms. "Okay, but when you're ready to say more, we'll be listening."
Hope you enjoyed!
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